The alleged execution-style slayings that have rocked southeast Queensland
FROM bodies in boxes to jaw-dropping allegations of torture, these are the chilling alleged executions that have sent shockwaves through Queensland.
IT’S BEST known to Australia for its sun, sand and surf, but lately southeast Queensland has been making headlines for more macabre reasons.
A series of alleged execution-style killings and other bizarre slayings have rocked the region, hinting at a criminal underworld lurking in the shadows of suburbia.
From bodies in boxes to jaw-dropping allegations of torture, these are some of the most chilling recent cases of alleged executions that have sent shock waves through Queensland and around Australia.
GREG DUFTY DISAPPEARANCE
They haven’t yet found his body, but police believe pool builder and father-of-one Greg Dufty, who went missing from the Gold Coast in July last year, was murdered over a drug debt.
Police are now in the midst of a grisly search for the remains of the 37-year-old, which they believe lie in a 162ha remote property in northern NSW.
Three men — Liam Bliss, Aaron Crawford and Lionel Patea, who is separately accused of murdering his partner in another high-profile case — have been charged with Mr Dufty’s murder.
A fourth man, Clinton Stockman, has been charged as an accessory after the fact.
Police allege Mr Dufty was led to a remote part of the Gold Coast hinterland and bashed to death as retribution for stealing cannabis from his drug-dealer boss.
Detective Inspector Dave Hutchinson said today it was believed Mr Dufty’s body had been burnt over “a period of time” following his death.
During a mention for the three accused killers at Southport Magistrates Court last Thursday, prosecutors confirmed weapons allegedly used in Mr Dufty’s murder had been found.
The search for Mr Dufty continues.
BODIES IN THE BOX
Earlier this month, police dragged a large, heavy metal toolbox from a dam near Scrubby Creek, in a remote area of Logan, south of Brisbane.
Inside the box was a gruesome scene: two beaten and waterlogged bodies, believed to be those of Iuliana Triscaru, 31, and Cory Breton, 28, who had gone missing from their Logan homes weeks earlier, sparking a major police search.
Police allege the pair, who associated with “nefarious characters” and were known drug users, has been beaten up at a unit in Kingston, bound and shoved into the toolbox, which was then loaded onto a ute and driven about 10 minutes away to the dam.
There, the pair were allegedly shot, with their killers drilling holes in the box to ensure it sank to the bottom of the dam.
Six people — Ngatokoona Maretti, 36, Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata, 24, Webbstar Latu, 31, Davy Malu Junior Taiao, 21, Stou Daniels, 21, and Trent Michael Thrupp, 22 — have been charged with murdering the pair.
Police have not yet established a motive for the killings but said they were “probably” drug-related.
DEATH OF A GEM DEALER
Queensland gem dealer David Hanson, 71, was last seen alive by his daughter during breakfast in Sunnybank, Brisbane, on February 22, 2014.
He was due to fly that day to the African country Tanzania, where he was working to get a joint-venture gem mine off the ground with several investors.
But he never arrived at the airport for his international flight and has not been seen since.
Last December, police charged a 27-year-old man with being an accessory after the fact to Mr Hanson’s murder and interfering with a corpse.
Police said they had three other suspects in the case who had links to organised crime.
“We believe the motive surrounds either drugs, failed business dealings in relation to the mine in Africa or possibly both,” Superintendent Dave Hutchinson said in December.
Police believe Mr Hanson was murdered at a car detailing business at Woodridge and that his body — which has not been found — was dismembered and disposed of.
“We do believe that after this event there was an extensive amount of work there in cleaning the property and in even demolishing a part of the property,” Supt Hutchinson said.
A $250,000 reward is in place for information that leads to Mr Hanson’s killers.
TIA LANDERS CASE
The body of mother-of-four Tia Landers, 28, was found in a shallow grave at Beerburrum State Forest, near the Glasshouse Mountains on the Sunshine Coast, in July 2014.
Her life ended in agony, police said: she was allegedly tortured with knives, machetes and a sword, and shot twice before her head was wrapped in plastic.
De facto couple John Edward Harris, 42, and Linda Eileen Appleton, 41, who are understood to have known Ms Landers, have been charged with her murder and torture.
At a committal hearing for the pair last October, the court heard Ms Landers and friends Jake McKenzie, 23, and Ryan Morgan, 20, visited the couple’s home on June 16, 2014 to sell drugs to raise money for Ms Landers’ jailed brother.
The couple allegedly forced Mr McKenzie and Mr Morgan to watch as they tortured Ms Landers before shooting and killing her inside the house.
Ms Landers’ dumped body was found about two weeks later.
The case has shocked hardened police detectives as much as Ms Landers’ family.
“It’s a bad nightmare,” her distraught sister Jamie told the media after her body was found.
“Your sister doesn’t just get murdered by people — that only happens in movies.”
ANTS IN THE ESKY
Gold Coast father Shaun Barker was allegedly locked in an Esky and had honey poured on his genitalia to attract ants before he died in one of the more bizarre alleged killings Queensland has recently seen.
The 33-year-old’s remains were found in the Esky in Toolara State Forest, near Gympie, five months after he was allegedly tortured for days in December 2013.
Police have charged Matthew Leslie Armitage, 23, his 46-year-old father Stephen John Armitage and William Francis Dean, 38 — all of whom who had a drug connection to Mr Barker — with
murder, torture, deprivation of liberty and interfering with a corpse.
Police accuse Matthew and Stephen Armitage and Dean of kidnapping their victim from a service station, locking him in a commercial Esky and zip-tying him to a tree with honey spread on his genitalia to attract ants.
Police believe the motive for the murder was drug related.
On Monday, during the first day of a committal hearing, Brisbane Magistrates Court heard Mr Barker was also repeatedly subjected to water torture.
Mr Barker was reported missing in January 2014, sparking a large investigation by police under the code name Operation Mike Dorado.
The hearing has been adjourned to March 7.
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